Tuesday, December 4, 2007
The Book of Joshua 1:6-11 (NIV)
6 "Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. 7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." 10 So Joshua ordered the officers of the people: 11 "Go through the camp and tell the people, 'Get your supplies ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you for your own.' "
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3 comments:
As I read these verses, I remember reading about in Matthew 10, how two sparrows sold for a penny will not fall to the ground and that we are worth more than these sparrows.... These verses repeat the words "be strong and courageous" throughout. As we talked about last Friday, there will be many hindrances and hardships as we try to walk in his path as His disciples. No matter what we might go through, God tells us NOT to be terrified and discouraged about the events that bring us down. (vs.9) I think Joshua serves us as a good spiritual model in this chapter. Rather than being scared and not doing anything, he courageously carries out God's commandment by ordering the officers to get prepared in three days to take possession of God's promised land.... In the same way, we should seriously ask ourselves if we really carry out the LIVING word and commandment of God in our daily lives.
I like how the book starts out by God continuing to encourage Joshua and preparing him. It must've been extremely difficult for Joshua to be following a great leader Moses. Because Moses set such a high standard, I'm sure Joshua had many doubts and various worries.
Can I do this? Am I capable of doing this? These negative and uncertain thoughts linger in me whenever I'm standing in front of giants. However Lord tells me and already told me many times that YES! You are my creation, you are my children and anything is possible through me!
does God encourage us to be "strong and courageous" because we are not already that way and/or because we are constantly being torn down by evil?
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